Knowledge and Opinions amongst Youths in Secondary and Tertiary Education on

Sustainable Development in Penang, Malaysia

Aim of this research:

To determine the level of knowledge and opinions of Malaysian youth towards

sustainable development concept and issues as it is important for their involvement in future

decision making.

Introduction:

Sustainable education issues have been a concern for all after the release of the

Bruntland Report as it focuses on the sustainable development for future generations. In the

report, sustainable education is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. So,

indirectly it aims at improving an individual’s quality of life by integrating economic growth,

social development and environmental protection. Also, it is believed that to overcome the

challenges in sustainable development, it requires global, collective and individual

commitment. Moving on, it is believed that Education is the most powerful tool in achieving

sustainable development. In December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly declared

a decade for Education of Sustainable Development to fit in the principles, values and

practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. This was

mainly to see changes in the behaviour of people who will work towards a sustainable future

in terms of integrity, economic availability and a just society for current and next generations

(UNESCO, 2005b).
Method of the Study:

This study used descriptive and correlational design to evaluate the respondent’s

demographic background and knowledge regarding sustainable development. The research

design of this study used primary data obtained through questionnaires answered by

randomly selected respondents whereby they are youth aged 15 to 25 years old in secondary

schools and tertiary education students in higher education institutions within the state of

Penang. Penang was the chosen state for this study because this state has been actively

involved in implementing sustainability amongst its people. Penang also wants to become the

first green and sustainable state in Malaysia (Postal Rasmi Kerajaan Pulau Pinang 2015).

Findings and Conclusion:

This study showed that the level of knowledge that one has one sustainable education

is well developed amongst youth in Penang but again they were lacking understanding of the

components of sustainable development. For example, a big number of students did not know

that the economic and social dimension is part of the sustainable development components.

So the researchers of this study strongly want the government to include more of these two

components: economic and social dimension in the sustainable education programme that is

being taught in school instead of just focusing on the environment component.

The finding also shows that youth had positive and strong support in strengthening

Malaysia’s involvement in bringing up better sustainable development policies and mass

mobilisation of the youth of working towards sustainable development lifestyle. It is believed

that with strong support and together with the positivity of youth, Malaysia can achieve the

2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

The result of this study also highlights that Sustainable Education programmes in the

education system has a very good impact on the level of knowledge and affecting positive
opinions on sustainable development amongst youth in Penang. Hence, the researchers

suggested to not only give more attention to formal education but instead to focus on

encouraging youth in participating in programmes that focus on sustainable development.

Moving on, based on the results obtained from this study, it can be used by the

policymakers in making a wise decision in the process of planning better actions in

promoting sustainable development and also in building better sustainable development

policies for Malaysia.

This study has been recommended to be conducted in other states as well to get more

accurate data regarding youth in Malaysia. Besides, most of the research done is on

environmental issues. Thus, future researchers are suggested to research on the other two

components: economic and social dimension.

Finally, in this study, it is quite obvious that the youth plays a vital and important role

in helping the world to meet global goals. Furthermore, engaging youth with sustainable

development programmes can be an initiative to create awareness on sustainable

development whereby youth get to understand, have enough and sufficient knowledge on

sustainable development and possibly positive attitude towards sustainability.